gb hill
Veteran
Whether you call it a glow or just flair you can't deny there is something special about older Leica lenses. I even remember an artical in the UK version of Black&White a couple years back by Roger & Frances on the Leica glow. So Leica flair, Leica glow, I like it, so I want to see it.
gb hill
Veteran
gb hill
Veteran
All with a 50 Elmar 3:5 (1946)
Penzes
Well-known
Quite nice rendering. Rigid Summicorn is simply great! 
Sanders McNew
Rolleiflex User
From last week: Foma 200 through a Summitar.
NathanJD
Well-known
Version 1 Elmarit 90/2.8 folowed by Collapsible 50 cron. i love them! nothing compares to this look .
.
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NathanJD
Well-known
In fact i think my old 90/2.8 Elmarit even has Leica glow in colour
ampguy
Veteran
summilux 35 @ 1.4
summilux 35 @ 1.4
summilux 35 @ 1.4
Dave Wilkinson
Veteran
While I do agree with your point/observation, I would suggest that the description can apply to a variety of early lenses - from quite a few different manufacturers!
Dave.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear Dave,
Indeed. One of the points we made, as far as I recall, was that the 'glow' was at least partly down to overexposure with guessed exposures. Also, cynically, to the fact that people who could afford them often bought Leica lenses once they had become good enough photographers to persuade themselves that they were worth the money. The 'glow' was the photographer, not the lens.
And there's less absolute rubbish around from Leica than from some of their erstwhile competitors.
Cheers,
R.
Mackinaw
Think Different
Back when I was on LUG, one of the contributors made the comment that the Leica glow was due to nothing more than "uncorrected lens aberrations." Probably more true than most of us think.
Jim B.
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gb hill
Veteran
Hey! I'm not biased, post whatever you got from whatever lens you have.
gb hill
Veteran
Roger you should go back into your archives & dig that article out. I believe it was a summicron you & Frances had (can't remember) but I do remember the article said the lens was so good for the Leica glow you guys would fuss over who used it. I also remember Francis usually won!
gb hill
Veteran
Whatever it is I can't explain, but I know the elmar gives me a look that I can't get with any of my voigtlander or other lenses!
maddoc
... likes film again.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Roger you should go back into your archives & dig that article out. I believe it was a summicron you & Frances had (can't remember) but I do remember the article said the lens was so good for the Leica glow you guys would fuss over who used it. I also remember Francis usually won!
Dear Greg,
You may be conflating two articles here. We have only two Summicrons (75 and 90) and Frances rarely uses either; we got rid of the 50 and 35 long ago, because neither of us cared for them much. In ay case, our tastes in focal lengths are quite divergent: the only lens we fought over, the WATE, we couldn't afford.
Unfortunately it would take hours to dig out the magazine, in a VERY cold storage room (I've just moved the studio inside and the storage into the old studio), and the text was on an old computer that died, so I'd have to go through stacks of Wordstar floppies to find it that way.
As far as I recall, we said that although there did seem to be a 'Leica glow', there had to be a substantial rational component as well as the mystical part.
Cheers,
R.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
How about some Nikon glow .... the lens that came on my black dial S2 is pretty glowy though not so sharp!
50mm f1.4 sc
50mm f1.4 sc
LeicaFoReVer
Addicted to Rangefinders
I can get what you call glow from my canon 50mm 1.2 too
Especially in portraits with yellow filter...
Especially in portraits with yellow filter...
